Political parties, civil action groups, and professional associations nationwide call for participation in a demonstration against the ever increasing surveillance by state agencies and the industrial sector. On Saturday, March 15^th, 2008, citizens shall rally on the streets under the slogan "For a Tomorrow in Liberty". Meeting point is the Roncalli-Platz ("Domplatte") in Cologne.

Not only since the attacks of September 11^th did various federal governments pass ever more authoritative regulations regarding the surveillance of Germany's citizens. Today's main force behind the increased state spying on citizens is Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior, who in the past announced numerous measures, the conformity of which with human rights is very questionable. The blanket retention of all communications data generated when using telephone, mobile phones, internet, and e-mail restricts the individual rights in a manner inconsistent with a society based upon free and democratic principles.

Expert criminologists agree that such surveillance measures do not have any significant impact upon the prevention of terrorism or criminal offences. Such laws merely constitute a wasteful spending of millions of Euros of tax payers funds and, by restricting freedom of speech and encroaching on crucial areas of human conduct of life, jeopardize our democracy.

Political parties and organisations from all over Germany shall not stand by and watch this ridiculous urge for surveillance on behalf of the federal government, which is hostile towards civil rights and wasts enourmous sums of money.

Members of our protest alliance are:

• German Work Group on Data Retention (AK-Vorratsdatenspeicherung)

• Cologne Civic Action Group "Liberty is Security" (Freiheit ist Sicherheit)
  

• Chas Computer Club Cologne

• Green Party Cologne

• Leftist Party Cologne

• Cologne District Associaton of the Piratenpartei (Party of Pirates)

• North-Rhine-Westphalia Regional Association of the Piratenpartei (Party of Pirates)

• Association of The Free Lektors

Our call for demonstration is supported by:

• North-Rhine-Westphalia Regional Association of Bündnis90/DieGrünen (Green Party)

• North-Rhine-Westphalia Regional Association of Die Linke (Leftist Party)

• Bergisch-Gladbach Local Association of Die Linke (Leftist Party)

• Hamburg District Associaton of the Piratenpartei (Party of Pirates

• Rhineland Palatine Regional Association of the Piratenpartei (Party of Pirates

• Kein Mensch ist Illegal (No Human Being is Illegal)

• Reflect

We call on all citizens to participate in this demonstration on March 15h, 2008, and, thus, show this government that German citizens publicly demonstrate for their liberty and civil rights.

We demand:

• an end to the total logging of telephone, mobil phone, e-mail, and internet communications (law on data retention)

• an end to plans for secret online-searches of computers

• an end to the wanton biometric registration of citizens

• no storage of flight passenger informations and passing on of such data to other countries

• no automated car license plate matching on public roads

• an end to all other proposed legislative projects with the object of furthering surveillance of the citizens of Germany

• a revision of all existing surveillance laws